Gretzky, Lemieux, Jagr, Selanne, Savard, Sundin, Forsberg, Fleury, Kurri, Housley, Palffy, Salming and Stastny are some of the NHL greats who have worn the JOFA emblem proudly upon their foreheads during some of the highest scoring and most important seasons and careers in NHL history. This blog discusses the JOFA helmet, the different models, who men who wore them, their significance, where to buy and sell them, how to fix and modify them, and why they are icons of hockey excellence.

Mar 15, 2012

Teemu Selanne's JOFA Helmets

Paying homage to Teemu Selanne's 1400th career point, and his career in general, I present a collection of Selanne's JOFA helmets throughout the years.

Below: Teemu celebrates his 1400th career point; a result of relentless hustle against the Red Wings.

Finnish Championship League - SM-liiga

1988-1992 Jokerit

Selanne wears a beautifully painted JOFA 366 with vintage CCM ear loops; complete with a JOFA half shield. His helmet is painted because he won the Aarne Honkavaara trophy for scoring the most goals during SM-liiga regular season play.

Team Finland - Suomi

1991 Canada Cup / IIHF World Championships

Selanne wearing a Kurri-style JOFA 51.234 helmet with a JOFA half shield; notice the install and the mounting slot on the visor. (Right) As depicted by his rookie card, Selanne wears a JOFA 290 with a JOFA half shield. Note Selanne's disregard for chinstraps.

1992 Winter Olympics / Right: 1996 World Cup of Hockey

I would have not known this except for a Finnish trading card I have, but Selanne wore a JOFA 390 helmet with a JOFA half shield during the 1992 Winter Olympics. (Right) Selanne wears a well promoted JOFA 366 helmet with vintage CCM earloops and JOFA half shield.

2002 Winter Olympics

The JOFA 397 makes its debut; Selanne wears a full black ear loops and chinstrap, completed with an ITECH aviator half shield. Anyone know what the hell is RisiFrutti? Neither do I.

After breaking his jaw, Selanne wore his JOFA/Reebok 397 with an Oakley aviator visor and ITECH jaw protector.

National Hockey League - NHL

1992-1996 Winnipeg Jets - NHL

After being drafted into the NHL, Selanne continues to wear his custom JOFA 366 with vintage CCM ear loops; however he trades in the JOFA half shield for an ITECH aviator. Notice his visor mounting; he seems to have an assortment of holes screws in his early years.

Here he uses a cleaner visor mounting option; using a horizontal visor mount utilizing the top slot in his half shield.

Look closely at these helmets. They not only differ from his later JOFA 366's because of the faux leather forehead bumper, but the padding inside the helmet is beige! I'm not sure, but I believe that either early versions of the JOFA 366, or the pro stock version, has this type of padding. Not shown in these pictures; but the bumper on the back of the helmet is stitched faux leather, not the strip of rubber most of us are familiar with. I plan to feature one of my 366's that are similar to this soon!

In his later years with Winnipeg, Selanne begins to wear a JOFA 366 with the black foam padding inside. Also, in these pictures, you can see that he is using a "half-on-half-off" half shield mount, where the top holes go through the front piece of the helmet, while the bottom screws are mounted below, into the back piece. I really think his "wings" are funny in these years; the CCM ear loops naturally want to flip out when installed.

1996-2001 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim - NHL

After being traded to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Selanne continues to wear a JOFA 366, now with the more familiar "366" bumper than has become synonymous with his image. He trades in the funny looking CCM ear loops for a more refined Cooper/Bauer ear loop. I'm guessing these purple JOFA 366 helmets were made just for him; it would make no sense for JOFA to normally produce such a color.

Around 1998-1999, Selanne traded his old ITECH half shield for the, what used to be, state-of-the-art 1xcel aviator half shield

2001-2003 San Jose Sharks - NHL

After embarking on his experimental days playing for non-Anaheim teams; Selanne's first stop is a stone's throw away in San Jose. He keeps wearing his JOFA 366 bucket, now with new San Jose decals; but seems to remove the 1xcel decals from his half shield (could this be because of a sponsor issue?).

Sometime during the 2002-2003 season, Selanne tried out a Nike (Bauer/Cooper) helmet. This, until proved otherwise, was the only time he wore a non-JOFA helmet in regular season play.

2003-2004 Colorado Avalanche - NHL

After playing some of his lousiest seasons with San Jose (I blame his teammates), Selanne continues to struggle with scoring playing for the Avalanche during the year before the lockout. Oakley apparently bought 1xcel, so Selanne begins to wear a Oakley aviator half shield.

After his stint with San Jose and Colorado, Selanne returns to the Ducks. During his first season back, he scores 40 goals and 90 points in 80 games (told you, I blame his teammates!). He begins to wear a short Oakley straight half shield. Notice the photo on the left; the Oakley decals are unexplainably red.

2008

Due to licensing restrictions that disallowed the JOFA brand to be displayed in the NHL; the NHL, and probably Reebok, force Selanne to choose between continuing to wear his JOFA 366 helmet, or trading it in for a modern helmet. Selanne decides to simply remove the ink from the JOFA logos on his helmet, and with out words tells Reebok, "**** you!".

Selanne now wears an Oakley straight half shield, giving him more nasal protection than the short visor.

2011-Present

At the beginning of the 2011-2012 season, the NHL instates a new helmet number guideline, requiring players to wear their number on the front of their helmets, as well as the back. This apparently makes it easier for the officials and broadcasters to identify the players. I don't know if Selanne likes this change; considering he has not opted to change his helmet for his entire career!

Extra!

1993 NHL All-Star Game / Right: 2000 NHL All-Star Game

It seems the All-Star Game is Selanne's favorite time to experiment with helmets! For his first NHL All-Star Game, Selanne wore an un-modified JOFA 366, with a 366 bumper (not faux leather), and surprisingly no trademark visor! (Right) Selanne wears a red JOFA 366 with All-Star decals and a 1xcel aviator half shield; it's hard to make out, but it looks like the bumper reads 390 - I wonder if he had this helmet modified!

2003 NHL All-Star Game

Now for a truly rare sight; Selanne wore a CCM HT852 helmet with an Oakley aviator half shield during the 2003 NHL All-Star Game! Traitor? Naw, I would guess there was some sort of endorsement by CCM that required him to give up his JOFA 366 for a night. (Right) Selanne warmed up during the 2007 NHL All-Star Game wearing a modern Reebok helmet and no visor. I believe he switched back to his JOFA during the actual game.

So there you go! The history of Teemu Selanne's JOFA helmets!

Please comment with links to better pictures, missing pictures, or other varieties I may have missed! I really hope you Selanne fans out here enjoy this!

18 comments:

i am not sure what i am a bigger fan of: teemu, jofa helmets or your site! what a great post! amazing information here, your obsession with jofa helmets is truly intriguing and thank you so much for sharing it with us! i always look forward to new posts!

that skinny visor is scary but perhaps not as scary as teemu in a CCM!

Big thanks to Greg, a fellow Selanne fan and blog reader, for advising me about Selanne's Nike helmets while playing with the Sharks and his Reebok during the 2007 All-Star Game! Please keep me informed if you have any other helmet spottings!

As a Finn I decided to clear the RisiFrutti issue. RisiFrutti is a snack which consists of milk pudding which has rice in it. The package has two compartments, one for the pudding and the other for jam. There are at least strawberry and chocolate jams. You can twist the package from the middle and pour the pudding into the jam compartment to mix the two.

about the post: I would recall that whole Jokerit team wore silver painted helmets in early '90s, not only Teemu. That was due to sponsorship deal with Hackman, a company reownwed by it's kettles and other steel kitchenware. Team leader in points wore a golden helmet, and I think teemu got to wear that a lot too.

I am clearing out my Jofa collection and I thought I would offer it up here first. I would rather they go to people who truly love the brand. I have every senior sized model helmet I could find any reference to except for the 690 (I hate the 690 for some reason). Even the elusive 397 and a couple 366's. I live in MN if anyone is nearby and wants to check them out otherwise email me. Weszacj@gmail.com Zack Westman

Hey! First off, I love your blog. I look nowhere else when it comes to Jofa related things. My love of their helmets first came from Vladislav Tretiak, and more closer to the present, Teemu Selanne.

I happened across this image of Teemu, from the 1994-95 season, when the Jets tried out red helmets for their away set for three or fours games. I'm not sure if you're aware of it, but here you go! [URL]http://i1338.photobucket.com/albums/o694/burnawaytheflags/selanne7_zps177c6715.jpg[/URL]

i am looking to sell a 366 in red color, a 366 in blue color and a NOS 397 in blue color (teemu's olympic choice)..feel free to contact me for pics and offers or special modifying recquests..zentagasse@gmail.com